During the live period, Clemson co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Mickey Conn stopped by St. John Paul II Catholic High School (Tallahassee, Fla.) on Tuesday, Jan. 24, and sat down with the program’s head coach, Ed Hill.
The Clemson Insider caught up with Hill, who detailed Conn’s visit to campus and what prospects Clemson is showing interest in
“He wanted to make sure that we knew that they were highly interested in (2023 four-star defensive back) Makari Vickers and did not want to miss on him,” Hill said. “We have Makari Vickers and then we have a kid named (2023 defensive end) Avery Howard that I want them to take a look at as well, that they’re gonna take a look at.”
Vickers is the No. 5 DB in the nation and one of the more sought-after prospects in the nation. According to his head coach, the 6-3, 200-pound safety is the “real deal.”
“His mom’s an educator, his dad’s a pastor and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” Hill said of Vickers. “Just a delightful, hard-working kid, who just loves the game of football. He’ll come to school and work out in the gym and after our workout or conditioning, he’ll go to a private trainer and train.
“He’s a delightful kid to have in class. He’s been a kid that I’ve known for some time and had an opportunity to coach for a little bit. He is — like I tell people — as advertised. He is really a great overall kid. He’s by far one of the best DBs out there.”
During his visit, Conn did something that you’ll very rarely hear.
He wanted to let Hill know that Clemson was very interested in a prospect it ultimately missed out on in Terrion Arnold. In the class of 2021, Arnold who is now at the University of Alabama, ranked as the No. 3 safety and No. 51 overall prospect nationally, per the 247Sports Composite rankings.
“Honestly, (Clemson) never came down. They never stepped foot on campus and he told me that,” Hill recalled. “He said, ‘We were here. We were running out of time and trying to get to a flight and we had to choose between two schools,’ and he said, ‘Coach, I’ll be honest, we chose the other school and it was probably the worst mistake we made. We should’ve come by here and seen Terrion and gone an opportunity to be in the race for him.’”
Now, it’s water under the bridge, but after it was all said and done, Conn told Hill that they knew that they had missed out on Arnold. He wanted to assure Hill that wouldn’t happen with Vickers and they are planning to build a strong relationship with him.
“I look forward to building this relationship with Coach (Conn) because he seemed like a really honest guy,” Hill said. “That’s one of the things he talked about is how he’s gonna coach them and how Clemson is a family. He talked about wanting to get (Vickers) on campus, so he could see and feel the love and how they operate up there.”
Hill has been a fan of Clemson for a while now and feels that head coach Dabo Swinney has done a “tremendous” job in building the program. He’s encouraging Vickers to visit Clemson and they have a date circled on the calendar for sometime next month to check out some spring practices and check out the campus.
“I think Clemson is a place that Vickers can see himself playing at,” he said. “They are an elite program and from an academic standpoint, it’s a school that he can go and thrive at. It’s just a matter of getting on campus and seeing it.”
Excited to start the week off with Coach Mickey Conn from @clemsonfb on campus today!!!
It’s a GREAT day to be a Panther!! 🐾#brickbybrick #pantherpride #jpii #Panthers #faithfamilyfootball #100%in #Tallahassee #football #Clemson #D1football #GoTigers #5100 pic.twitter.com/1jq5J4tr0T
— Coach Ed Hill (@coachedhill) January 25, 2022
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